More than 100 officers from major cities and elsewhere around Texas responded to the Houston area Thursday to help local police during the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl.
Acting Houston Chief of Police Larry Satterwhite asked for help earlier this week and on Thursday officers from across the state rolled into town. During a Thursday press conference, he and Mayor John Whitmire provided details of how other agencies, coordinated through the state, are responding to help.
Whitmire explained how in a Crime Stoppers meeting earlier this year, 30 area agencies crafted a plan for local collaboration when help is needed. The response by 100 officers is somewhat the expansion of that model at the state level.
In talks between the City of Houston, Texas Acting Gov. Dan Patrick, and the director of the Emergency Center for the State of Texas, the discussion turned to how communities share personnel from public works, fire, and EMS following storms and disasters. So, they asked, “Why wouldn’t your model work statewide?” The plan up until this week had not tapped law enforcement resources.
Satterwhite explained how those other services are coordinated through the Texas Department of Emergency Management, and the state covers the cost of additional personnel responding to help a city in a disaster zone. From those meetings earlier this week, now the state’s covering the costs has been extended to cover law enforcement assistance.
With that, the call went out for agencies to send officers to Houston.
Hurricane Beryl made landfall along the Texas coast early Monday, and the Houston Police Department has been at full mobilization since Tuesday.
“HPD is still and will continue to continue to be on full mobilization, meaning half of our department works day shift and half of the department works night shift, because we know that we have vulnerable neighborhoods and we have all kinds of needs,” Satterwhite said. "Tuesday morning we went to full mobilization, and by Tuesday afternoon we were getting additional assignments of water, of food distribution, of shelters, and all those things. And that's why we need to remain at full mobilization.”
The acting chief explained that local officers will be paired with the out-of-town officers. He said that is why some may see a Dallas Police Department vehicle, as an example, patrolling the streets of Houston. However, there will be both a Dallas and a Houston officer inside.
Likewise, when Houston officers are patrolling, they will be accompanied by these other officers.
“We are going to be working in tandem in our neighborhoods that are most vulnerable with additional support, to have that backup to make sure that we're doing everything we can to protect the public while we all work to get through this storm crisis,” Satterwhite said.
A video released by the Houston Police Department showed the 100 officers arriving to assist in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl.Houston Police Department screenshot
